Family Firsts

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July12th 2018 (morning)

 

Marcy & her son Elliot were with me this morning for a half day trip. Elliot was just getting into fishing and was hoping to land a few more species of fish. Largemouth were the ones he had already caught, but he always wanted to catch smallies, so I was taking him for the brown ones for the start!

Winds were out of the NW but light as we raced across the lake to hit the first spot. He had brought along a baitcaster and after a little tweaking, I had it running smoothly. I let him throw a blade for a while, but without any aggressive hits. His mother however was on a crank and boated her first two smallies before Elliot could even get bit. Way to go mom! After seeing this, I immediately switched him to soft plastics and soon after he was tight to his first ever smallie. He added to that a couple more after and was loving the power of these smallies!

I made a short move to an area close by when it slowed down and Elliot managed to land a couple more nice bass, including the largest of the day. His mother was just in awe with the surroundings and enjoying watching her son fish. She had caught a couple of bass at the start and was just wanting Elliot to have fun. That he was with each and every cast!

I wanted to work more bass areas, but each place took time and we were only doing a half day. I offered them another couple of species and techniques and they were all in. We would be trying for pike & walleye now and doing a little trolling. I knew we would get bit!

After arriving, I set up and instructed them on how to remove the rods when the fish hit. We were going over an area that held both and with any luck, it wouldn’t take long! Well, it didn’t and within minutes, a reel fired giving Elliot his first ever northern pike. Although not big, it definitely deserved a pic as it was a different species. I reset the line and a little while later, another reel went off and he was into his second pike. While fighting it, I heard a down rod scream and passed it to his mother. Doubles, finally! Without realizing it, they were into a mix match pair. One walleye and one pike were what they would be landing and it made for a great action photo too!

We had wanted to get Elliot a walleye as well but all he was catching were pike and time was getting on. He talked about going for smallies again but it would be eating into their time getting there. I offered them a chance at some largemouth and he jumped at the offer. We were closer to the green fish and got to fish for them for almost an hour before calling their day. Although we did see a few, they didn’t want to eat and we had to go. They had also seen some huge gar and a few other species, along with piles of different birds making it a worthwhile attempt.

Both Marcy and Elliot had a great time this morning catching a variety of fish and Elliot learned a few new techniques and baits to use. Although he may be young, he has the drive and desire to become a great fisherman. In the coming years he will have plenty more fish to catch and look back on today whenever he boats another smallie. You can always catch bigger and more, but you can never replace the first fish one! Today was just the start of many more years of fishing pleasure!!